October 1946

"Lucy, come and play with me and my dollies!" Lucy looked down at her younger cousin, Erin, and laughed. She had been stuck in her book and had planned on declining Erin's invitation, tempting though it was, so that she could finish her book. But when she looked at her, she saw the puppy eyes and endearing smile that she herself had used many a time to get her own way.

"O alright, just for a while then," Lucy told her, standing up. She could always finish the book later when Erin was asleep.

They entered Erin's bedroom and Lucy sat on the floor opposite her small cousin. She was very like her in many ways: they looked similar and both loved stories and adventures. Lucy smiled to herself as she remembered her own adventures in the magical land she and her siblings had called home for many years. She wasn't really required to play with Erin very much, she did most of the playing by herself, and she was just there for company.

"Do you like Ellie's new dress?" Erin's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she was about to reply with her usual "yes, lovely", when she actually saw the dress on the doll Erin had shoved in her face. "It's truly beautiful. Where did you get it?"

"Suzie buyed it for me," she replied with a smile, clearly pleased with Lucy's enthusiasm. Erin was the only person who could get away with calling Susan "Suzie"; to everyone else she was just Susan or Su.

"Really?"

"Am I not allowed to spoil my little cousin?" Susan had appeared at the doorway unnoticed by her cousin and sibling. Lucy knew very well that Susan (being the motherly one) loved spoiling Erin and bought her anything she wanted. But this was not what surprised her. What surprised her was the fact that Susan had bought Erin's doll a dress that was distinctly Narnian. Susan denied with every fibre of her being that Narnia existed, yet here she was, subconsciously (Lucy assumed) buying her cousin's dolls Narnian dresses.

"It's gorgeous Su, what made you choose that particular one?"

"I just liked it. Something about it attracted me."

"Probably the facts that you used to wear ones very like it when you ruled a magical country. The something attractive was probably a reminder of happy times," Lucy mumbled more to herself than to anyone else. However, somehow, Susan heard her and stopped spinning Erin to give Lucy an evil glare.

"Lucy," she said her voice full of ice, "it's fine for Erin to keep pretending, but you're far too old for that kind of nonsense. That was a great game when we played it, but that's all it was, a game." And with that she turned on her high heel and left the room.

Later, after Erin had gone to bed, Lucy sat in the living room with her siblings. She was reading her mail: a postcard from an old school friend, a card from her mother and one very fat letter. She decided to leave the fat one until she'd read the other ones. Having read the postcard and card, she slit the letter open and skimmed to the bottom to see who it was from. "It's from Eustace!" she exclaimed. Peter and Edmund looked up, interested to know what he had to say, but Susan just looked sceptical.

"Why's he writing to you? I thought you hated each other's guts."

"He's changed a lot recently, you know that," Lucy replied.

"Well, I've not actually seen this "new Eustace"; I've only got your word for it." Lucy decided she couldn't be bothered arguing with her sister, so she started reading the letter instead. She could hardly contain her excitement when she read that he'd managed to get back to Narnia, with a friend from school. She was very aware of Susan watching her and tried not to let her emotions show on her face- it would only cause another argument- but when she read that her good friend Caspian had died, she let out a small gasp.

"What's he got to say for himself then?" Susan still doubted that he had changed at all.

"Nothing much," Lucy was far too innocent to be able to lie well and her sister saw straight through it.

"Pages and pages of nothing?" she replied sarcastically and went back to read her magazine. Lucy took this chance and glanced at her brothers. They nodded silently, understanding what she meant by this glance.

Lucy looked over at her sister, who was breathing heavily. Susan was finally asleep although she had certainly taken long enough about it. As she crept out of bed and put on her dressing gown, she looked at her sister once again. She had curlers in her hair and looked ridiculous. She'd also mentioned once that they were very uncomfortable (probably why she'd taken so long to fall asleep) but "beauty is pain" as she told her younger sister frequently. Lucy disagreed. Susan had been beautiful Narnia, her several hundred suitors were proof of it. She'd never needed curlers or make up or fancy jewellery there- she was naturally beautiful, without any pain. Lucy snapped herself out of it. She didn't have all night and her brothers would be waiting for her. She sneaked out and made her way to their room.

Fortunately, the boys' room was completely away from any of the other bedrooms in the house so they could talk freely there without worrying about waking anyone up or being overheard or interrupted. Peter looked at the clock on his bedside table. It was midnight! What was taking Lucy so long? Edmund had fallen asleep over an hour ago, having made Peter promise to wake him up when Lucy appeared. So far there was no sign of her. Maybe he'd misinterpreted her glance. Or maybe it was just that Susan was taking forever to fall asleep. It hurt him that his little sister didn't believe any more and that they had to sneak around to talk about Narnia without her. But if they talked about it in her presence, all they'd get would be their heads bitten off and another fall out to sort out. It was easier this way. He was shaken from his thoughts by the door creaking open slowly. He held his breath- there was always the chance it wasn't Lucy. It was.

"Ed! Wake up!"

Edmund mumbled something along the lines of, "what's wrong with meeting in the daytime?" but sat up and yawned and rubbed his eyes anyway.

"Ok then Luce, what's Eustace saying this time then?" Peter always liked to get straight to business.

"He and his friend from school, Jill, have managed to get back to Narnia." Edmund woke up properly after this statement. "The letter was basically filled with details- lots of them. You understand why I couldn't say anything n front of Susan?" The boys nodded. They understood very well. So Lucy spent the next hour or so filling them in on what Eustace had said.

By the time she was finished, Peter was staring at her looking a little bit shocked and Edmund had walked over to the window and was looking out so they couldn't see his face.

"Ed?" His sister's voice was filled with concern. He turned to face her and she saw the tears running unstopped down his face.

"I just can't…Caspian was just young…he can't be…Narnia…witch…" was all he could stutter before collapsing on his bed in tears. Lucy sat down next to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She understood completely what he had just spluttered- it was so strange to think of so much time passing in just a couple of months. But there was nothing that could be done about it. They simply had to move on.

August 1947

Lucy was sitting in a round room with her two brothers and the